Life and Style

Jazz Holdouts – Morning Breeze

From night until morning, Jazz Holdouts frontmen Alan Palanker and Lou Cortelezzi have been toiling away in the studio diligently conceiving ultramodern electronic soundscapes to pair with their enticing keyboard and saxophone melodies. Last summer, they came up with a sensual blend of throbbing house music, nocturnal chill nuances and steamy contemporary jazz harmonies on a cut titled “Summer Nights,” which went No. 1 on the Billboard and Mediabase charts. Going downtempo for a laidback oeuvre of sunrise seduction, the duo wrote and produced “Morning Breeze,” the follow-up single that began going for radio playlist adds on Monday.

“‘Morning Breeze’ refers to the urge we often have to make love when we awaken in the morning. It passes over us like a cool breeze on a hot summer day and we make of it what we will,” said Cortelezzi about the inspiration for the new cut. “Our goal is to create instrumental music that is, groove-oriented, atmospheric and contemporary. The more traditional elements that say ‘jazz’ – like improvisation – are secondary to the overall effect of the composition.”

The winning combo of keyboardist Palanker and saxman Cortelezzi have taken Jazz Holdouts in bold directions. The outfit initially formed as an adult R&B/singer-songwriter venture that dropped the debut disc, “Intuition,” in 2014. Scrapping the original concept and recruiting the hornman into the fold, the reimagined Jazz Holdouts premiered their reworked vision in 2016 with the Billboard Top 20 single “Simple Things,” a futuristic foray swirling exhilarating electronica experimentations, dancefloor dynamics and soothing sophisticated sax. All three singles will be on the ten-song album slated for release this summer.

Jazz Holdouts consists of a veteran core of accomplished musicians who have toured and recorded with many of the biggest names in pop, R&B and jazz over the past few decades. On “Morning Breeze,” Palanker and Cortelezzi are joined by guitar ace Michael Thompson, bassist John Siegler and percussionist Walfredo Reyes Jr. Fusion guitarist Jamie Glaser will appear on the album as well.

“Lou and I are the songwriters, but the Jazz Holdouts recording process is unique and technologically current, including valuable contributions from our highly-skilled audio mix engineer, Douglas Cooper Getschal, who is key to shaping our sound,” said Palanker.

After the album is complete, the Jazz Holdouts’ focus will shift to how to present the music live in a compelling multimedia production that stimulates the senses. Cortelezzi said, “We are excited about the possibility of adding extensive video content to our live shows. The combination should be very entertaining to our audience and interesting to us as musicians.”